Bengaluru (India) (AFP) – Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on Saturday said “attacks” on his company made it “stronger,” days after US prosecutors accused him and other officials of fraud. The November 20 bombshell indictment in New York accused the industrialist and multiple subordinates of deliberately misleading international investors as part of a multi-million-dollar bribery scheme.
Addressing the allegations for the first time, the 62-year-old tycoon said his conglomerate was committed to “world-class regulatory compliance.” “What I can tell you is that every attack makes us stronger and every obstacle becomes a stepping stone for a more resilient Adani Group,” he said at an awards ceremony in the northern Indian city of Jaipur.
Adani is suspected of having participated in a $250 million scheme to bribe Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts. The billionaire, however, said nobody from his company had been charged with any violation of corruption laws or “any conspiracy to obstruct justice.” The US Justice Department said Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and one other official were charged “with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud.”
Five others were charged “with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” the department said. On Thursday, Adani’s company said it had suffered a loss of nearly $55 billion in market capitalisation across its 11 listed companies since the US indictment was filed.
With a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement, and media, Adani Group has weathered previous corporate fraud allegations, suffering a similar stock rout last year. The conglomerate saw $150 billion wiped from its market value in 2023 after a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it of “brazen” corporate fraud.
Adani is a close ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was at one point the world’s second-richest man, and critics have long accused him of improperly benefitting from their relationship.
© 2024 AFP
